Canes to Wear Hartford Whalers Uniforms Tonight in Boston

Wrapping up their two-game return to the NHL, the Whalers uniforms live on to see one final day in 2019 as the Carolina Hurricanes take their green, white, and blue throwbacks on the road to the TD Garden to face the Boston Bruins. Boston will be wearing their present-day road white uniforms for the game.

It gives hockey fans from the area a chance to see their old team once more, in the city the team originally called home. The then-named New England Whalers played their first two seasons as members of the World Hockey Association out of Boston before moving to Hartford, Connecticut in 1974 (with a brief stop in Springfield, Mass along the way). The Whalers joined the NHL along with three other WHA clubs in 1979 re-christening themselves the Hartford Whalers in the process.

As it is what they do best, the Carolina Hurricanes are having fun with the whole promotion, re-branding their entire social media presence with the retro Whalers colours and logos:

The Hurricanes announced in September that the club would be bringing back the old look for two this season with both games played against the Boston Bruins, the Whalers old rival, one at home and one on the road in Boston. The first game was played at Raleigh, N.C. on December 23rd, a 5-3 victory for the Whalercanes who blasted the Whalers fight song “Brass Bonanza” and brought back their mascot Pucky to help with the overall Whalerfication of the event.

It’s not yet known if the Hurricanes will bring back the uniforms again in the future, but I have to imagine they’ll return, it’s been too successful to just let it sit on the shelf. Personally, I’d love to see this continue with the ‘Canes rotating through different Whalers designs over the years — perhaps a white version of this set next year? Have “Pucky” return to the shoulders? And why not try the blue and silver set someday (it’s an unpopular opinion, but that’s always been my preferred Whalers uniform).

As was the case in December, I’ll be watching the game tonight, probably with my son — who since that game in December has turned into a huge Whalers fan (“Well, they never lose a game”, I tell him). He literally runs around the house singing Brass Bonanza (yes, I’m a proud pop).